The core of U.S. government has been illegitimately seized by corporate-owned political fascists,. .

[Civilization2]

The core of United States government has been illegitimately seized by corporate-owned political fascists, who do not hesitate to suspend civil liberties and distort or defy the constitutional rights guaranteed to citizens.

Their prime directive is to discredit, divide and destroy all those agencies, civic organizations, labor unions,. . even community groups of individual citizens seeking to communicate their views and concerns.

Their goal? The permanent destruction of democracy throughout the U.S. and the world - replacing it with an institutionalized oligarchy that maintains its control by doing away with public education, worker rights, voting rights, etc, - creating a powerless underclass that will work to serve and fear to challenge their corporate masters,. now and for generations to come.

- slightly edited to expand the scope, making it even more accurate.

original comment by Diane Ayers

[warrant46]

1. Explains it all -- Another War is also about to start

[Leopolds Ghost]

2. Happy Dog Day, Everyone.

Sorry, I thought the juxtaposition was hilarious.

[Glassunion]

3. And?

Been this way for a long time... What can anyone do about it? It's a self perpetuating machine.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

4. Ask the Jacobians.

[Glassunion]

8. How'd that work out for them?

[OffWithTheirHeads]

9. uhmmm, they no longer have a monarchy in France?

[Glassunion]

10. So they have no political fascists today?

[OffWithTheirHeads]

11. I'd ask what the point is but I've ben here too long.

[Civilization2]

5. Search Degrowth, Slow Money, Permaculture, Relocalize, etc. Don't support the corp. system..,

We are each in control of our own actions, we can choose how we live and what we support. Choose to stop supporting the corporate-military state. Just my approach, being always in the pursue of right action, right livelihood, etc.

[Glassunion]

6. Sorry, but I'm too much of a realist to believe that.

The glass ain't half empty, nor is it half full.

It's all the way full... 1/2 of it poisoned water and the other 1/2 poisoned air. Either way you look at it it's a glass full of shit. These glasses have existed since the dawn of time, and they will continue to exist. We will just call it something else: Monarchy, Oligarchy, Authoritarian, Autocracy, Dictatorship, Democracy, etc...

The have-nots will always be subservient to the haves.

[zeemike]

19. Yep

That really is the only way to fight it.
Work your way out of the system...and it can be done...before it destroys you as it destroys the earth and itself.

[raouldukelives]

32. We have freedom of choice. Most are too timid and/or complicit to do what they know is necessary.

Thinking you live like a liberal and having the courage to live like one are sadly quite disconnected.

[Maedhros]

17. Clearly, if something bad has been happening for a long time the answer is to do nothing.

We've tried our best and failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

[geek tragedy]

23. The Koch brothers are grateful for your attempt to suppress

voting and activism.

[Autumn]

7. Kind of hard to argue with that.

[tblue]

12. Some State Governments too.

It's all a mess.

[OnyxCollie]

13. Yup. 'Nuff said.

[cantbeserious]

14. America's Gilded Capital

http://vimeo.com/72980504

[cantbeserious]

15. You've Woken Up...Now What?

[Overseas]

16. It's a long term plan. Carrying out The Powell Memo.

A plan drawn up by an activist supreme court judge Lewis Powell way back in 1971.

The Powell Memo did not become available to the public until long after his confirmation to the Court. It was leaked to Jack Anderson, a liberal syndicated columnist, who stirred interest in the document when he cited it as reason to doubt Powell’s legal objectivity. Anderson cautioned that Powell “might use his position on the Supreme Court to put his ideas into practice…in behalf of business interests.”
Though Powell’s memo was not the sole influence, the Chamber and corporate activists took his advice to heart and began building a powerful array of institutions designed to shift public attitudes and beliefs over the course of years and decades. The memo influenced or inspired the creation of the Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, the Cato Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Accuracy in Academe, and other powerful organizations. Their long-term focus began paying off handsomely in the 1980s, in coordination with the Reagan Administration’s “hands-off business” philosophy.
Most notable about these institutions was their focus on education, shifting values, and movement-building — a focus we share, though often with sharply contrasting goals.*

Lots more, including text of memo here: http://reclaimdemocracy.org/powell_memo_lewis/

Wonderful documentary all about it: http://www.heist-themovie.com/watch_free.html

[Efilroft Sul]

20. It's amazing more people don't know about this.

But, then, the media's only as liberal as the corporations that own them.

[Overseas]

21. and an amazing book What Liberal Media by Eric Alterman explains how media have been changed

over the past 30 years. Here's an article about the book: http://www.thenation.com/article/what-liberal-media#

Republicans of all stripes have done quite well for themselves during the past five decades fulminating about the liberal cabal/progressive thought police who spin, supplant and sometimes suppress the news we all consume. (Indeed, it's not only conservatives who find this whipping boy to be an irresistible target. In late 1993 Bill Clinton whined to Rolling Stone that he did not get "one damn bit of credit from the knee-jerk liberal press.&quot But while some conservatives actually believe their own grumbles, the smart ones don't. They know mau-mauing the other side is just a good way to get their own ideas across--or perhaps prevent the other side from getting a fair hearing for theirs. On occasion, honest conservatives admit this. Rich Bond, then chair of the Republican Party, complained during the 1992 election, "I think we know who the media want to win this election--and I don't think it's George Bush." The very same Rich Bond, however, also noted during the very same election, "There is some strategy to it [bashing the 'liberal' media].... If you watch any great coach, what they try to do is 'work the refs.' Maybe the ref will cut you a little slack on the next one."

Bond is hardly alone. That the media were biased against the Reagan Administration is an article of faith among Republicans. Yet James Baker, perhaps the most media-savvy of them, owned up to the fact that any such complaint was decidedly misplaced. "There were days and times and events we might have had some complaints [but] on balance I don't think we had anything to complain about," he explained to one writer. Patrick Buchanan, among the most conservative pundits and presidential candidates in Republican history, found that he could not identify any allegedly liberal bias against him during his presidential candidacies. "I've gotten balanced coverage, and broad coverage--all we could have asked. For heaven sakes, we kid about the 'liberal media,' but every Republican on earth does that," the aspiring American ayatollah cheerfully confessed during the 1996 campaign. And even William Kristol, without a doubt the most influential Republican/neoconservative publicist in America today, has come clean on this issue. "I admit it," he told a reporter. "The liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures." Nevertheless, Kristol apparently feels no compunction about exploiting and reinforcing the ignorant prejudices of his own constituency. In a 2001 pitch to conservative potential subscribers to his Rupert Murdoch-funded magazine, Kristol complained, "The trouble with politics and political coverage today is that there's too much liberal bias.... There's too much tilt toward the left-wing agenda. Too much apology for liberal policy failures. Too much pandering to liberal candidates and causes." (It's a wonder he left out "Too much hypocrisy.&quot

In recent times, the right has ginned up its "liberal media" propaganda machine. Books by both Ann Coulter and Bernard Goldberg have topped the bestseller lists, stringing together a series of charges so extreme that, well, it's amazing neither one thought to accuse "liberals" of using the blood of conservatives' children for extra flavor in their soy-milk decaf lattes.

[Efilroft Sul]

25. I have that book. It's an amazing piece of work by Alterman.

I have a Journalism degree. When I finished reading "What Liberal Media?", I wanted to burn the diploma in the fireplace. Up until the publication of Alterman's book, I hadn't realized how far gone the field really was. It was an eye-opener.

[Zorra]

18. Yes. nt

[geek tragedy]

22. Nice of you to torture the distort Democrats' words to spout Tea Party "Obama is a fascist" crapola

here.

The original comment was about Scott Walker.

[Civilization2]

24. Never mentioned Obama, the problem is SYSTEMIC,. not focused around any individual.

So, any criticism of the system must be from the Teabillies? Seems rather simplistic.

Perhaps try to have a critical thought,. and stop elevating a single individual, or even a "party" to sacred status, beyond criticism.

Democracy demands critical thinking. The current situation of corporate takeover is quite far along,. so if you are missing this fact then I doubt I can convince you of the reality of the situation. Good luck!

[geek tragedy]

27. "the core of the US government has been illegitimately seized"

How does that not include the President?

[Civilization2]

29. It does, however it is not a personal attack, as you make it out to be,. it is a SYSTEMIC takeover!

Nothing to do with the Teabillies,. not a rethuglican plot to discredit Obama or the Democrats.

It is a fact of history, that corporate-banksters and their military mercenaries (NSA, CIA, Booz, Carlyle etc.) have taken over the system,. neither political party is immune to 1% control. How much of what Obama talked about BEFORE he got in has happened? There is simply no possibility of moving any direction but in the pattern devised by of the 1% corporatists,. the system is fully corrupted and co-opted. No real change will come from withing this rigged system.

I suggest withdrawing all support from the corporate mercenaries, get you wealth out of their system and invest in your future,. in you local community, in organic sustainable farms, breweries, small scale energy projects, things you are going to need when the 1% run the world into the ground. The more we withdraw support the more we slow their "progress",. . and the better chance we have of recovery when they fail,. their system is based on a lie (endless growth) and will inevitably fail.

[geek tragedy]

30. So, the Voting Rights Act is pretty much irrelevant to you. Or maybe even a good thing? nt

[Civilization2]

31. The Voting Rights Act WAS a good thing, but as you can see, it was taken out by corporate powers,.

The systemic attack on democracy is ongoing and on many fronts. The 1% few have an odd need to dominate, I suppose it is indicative of their sociopathic mindset. Limiting voting, is one path their anti-democratic push takes,. but don't you think they have done a great job of making functioning democracy more of a theory than a reality? They jsut get every law they want,. every war they like to profit form,. all the corporate-welfare they can fill their pockets with,. it goes on and on,.

[gordianot]

26. How is that new?

[wildbilln864]

28. Absolutely! k & r. n/t

[socialist_n_TN]

33. As a couple of other posters have pointed out....

So what do we do about it? www.workerspower.net